MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses whether “baseball guys” might be the answer to the Red Wings’ managerial search this morning.
Khan discusses both Detroit Tigers GM Jeff Greenberg and Tigers VP of analytics Andrew Thomas as candidates for the Red Wings’ GM/hockey of operations spot–two names mentioned by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on Tuesday’s 32 Thoughts podcast:
Although Greenberg is Tigers GM, Harris handles the transactions, at least the significant ones. Greenberg has mostly a baseball background, having previously worked for the Pirates, Diamondbacks and Cubs. But he also served as the Chicago Blackhawks associate GM for one season before coming to Detroit.
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman said Tuesday on his 32 Thoughts Podcast: “His dad, Chuck Greenberg, was Mario Lemieux’s lawyer when Lemieux was owed a lot of money and got an ownership share of the Penguins. Chuck Greenberg was one of the people that put that together. Really sharp guy. And he was a big hockey fan. He later became a part owner of the Texas Rangers. He was a player agent. He has a long history in sports. And when this opening first came up … I had a couple people say to me, watch Jeff Greenberg on this one.”
Friedman believes Andrew Thomas, vice president of baseball analytics for the Tigers, was interviewed for the Red Wings GM job as well. But he appears to be a longshot.
“I don’t know that Andrew Thomas is going to be ready for this now, but I’ve heard that they think very highly of him, and so that is a name to remember, although I’m not convinced the opportunity is going to be his now,” Friedman said on his podcast.
Thomas has extensive experience in data science, analytics and research development. He has a physics degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master’s degree and PhD in Statistics from Harvard.
Continued (paywall)
